Insert Extreme Parkour Running Here
by Isis the Sphinx
Summary: ACMSES/AC2 When the going gets tough, the tough gets going, or so they say. Rhia's fallen out of the frying pan and trying to climb out of the fire. It's time to see if she can survive her training from hell. Multi-chapter story! Season 2 story complete!
1. Chapter 1

Hello all! Here I am with another installment for the Anti-Cliche and Mary-Sue Elimination Society. If you have never heard of that phrase before, we have a C2, I welcome you to go poke at it. I warn you, however, that it's a bit of an archive binge with 200+ entries. Leave yourself a good chunk of time to read it.

Also, for the tuning-in Assassin's Creed fans, yes, this is an AC fic, but that part doesn't kick in until next chapter. But if you enjoy parkour you'll still like this chapter.

For those of you who HAVE heard of the ACMSES:  
>*cracks knuckles* The rumors have been flying thick and fast and hard and I'm sorry to say that this chapter doesn't reveal much. That's next chapter. Yes, all, this is a multi-chapter. *cackles* Next chapter will be up in a couple weeks. I promise.<p>

Many thanks to _**Master of the Library** _and _**James Firebrand** _(our resident battle-writers) for help with the combat scenes.

I'll stop nattering now and let you get to the story.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Assassin's Creed, or Assassin's Creed 2, even if I think the story is absolutely _awesome._ I only really own Rhia. And I don't make money off of her, sad to say. I could use it right about now.

Let the fun begin. May I present to you,

Insert Extreme Parkour Running Here

* * *

><p>Thunder exploded down the firing range.<p>

Thunder exploded along with one of Ben's nukes as it came screaming down from the sky. Screams shrieked their way along the battlefield as the war raged on. Rubble crashed into the ground, throwing up dust in its wake.

The shot exploded out of the barrel of the gun.

Swords and fire flashed, slashing and searing their way through their opponent's bodies. The scent of iron and dust and fear and death choked the air. Spilled blood slicked the ground and stained it red.

The bullet whistled after its target, locked on.

Buildings rumbled and crashed down, falling to pieces. Figures leapt from spot to spot, the power of the gods contained within, leaving apocalypse in their wake. The echoes of the dead followed them.

_Don't dream it's over…_

The moving clay target shattered into a multitude of tiny pieces as the bullet kept moving and embedded itself in the wall behind it.

Rhia stared at the shattered ceramic on the floor and the hole in the wall and sighed. "It's just not enough. It's not." Fingers slid through already much tussled hair as she tugged at it again.

The rifle made a quiet clank sound as it was set down for Rhia to disassemble it.

_It's not enough. _

She didn't realize she was crying until the droplets landed on her gun. Rhia choked, wiped the drops off her gun with a finger, and nearly bent over double with her sobs.

It took a good while for her to stop.

* * *

><p>The communicator rang four times on the other end and beeped.<p>

"_This is the Librarian. I can't pick up right now, so leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks….AND NO, Aster, you cannot have more manga." _Beep.

"Hey, Adrian, it's Rhia," She sighed. "I need to talk to you, if you could spare a moment or two. Ring me A.S.A.P. Thanks."

She clicked the communicator closed and stared at it like it'd grown a head and was berating her for shutting it closed too hard. "Voicemail. Really." She gave it a shake. "Really? Just my day…" She slid it back inside her pocket and decided to hunt him down physically. Maybe it might be easier.

She blinked and looked around at the five-way intersection that was in front of her.

'_Easier. This is supposed to be easier. Riiiiiight.' _She huffed and took the path to the front.

* * *

><p>An hour later found Rhia footsore, frustrated, and more than a little ready to give up on finding Adrian for the day. The man was always around when you wanted him, but the moment you <em>needed<em> him for something, 'pfffft', gone.

The hallways were starting to get a little monotonous too. She knew where she was—she'd just passed Adrian's room—so she wasn't hopelessly lost, but tired was the order of the day.

She turned the corner and almost bounced. "Oooof!"

Arms wrapped around her and kept her from tripping over her own feet. She looked up into violet eyes and white hair. "Hey, careful."

"Adrian!"

He gave her a small smile. "That's me. Hello!"

"I've been looking for you." She crossed her arms at him and frowned.

"You have?"

"Uh-huh. Where _have_ you been? I even left a message on your Communicator." She huffed.

"Well…ah…" Adrian blushed slightly, and Rhia noticed the mussed state of his hair. "Um…With Tash." He nodded once.

"Ah. Well, I need to ask you a big favor."

"Oh?" One eyebrow quirked up as his whole demeanor changed, running an eye over Rhia's nervous posture and clenched fists. "What's up?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to re-gather her courage. Her fear and her pride battled with themselves one last time before she opened her mouth.

For a moment no sound came out.

She swallowed and tried again, Adrian waiting patiently.

"I need training."

The other eyebrow quirked up and joined the other.

"I'm outclassed. Horribly, horribly outclassed." Another swallow. "I always have been. I've just been lucky enough to survive so far."She gave herself a wry snort. "Worst injury I've gotten away with is a broken kneecap. That's light, in comparison to everything else." She grit her teeth. "I can't keep up. Not at the level I am now. I've already had one encounter with a Sovereign. How many more am I going to have?"

Hazel eyes met violet in the hardest stare he'd ever seen from her.

"Train me. Make it so I'm not a burden on _anyone_ else in a battle. I don't want to get anyone killed saving my ass, and I don't want to die."

Adrian held her gaze for a moment longer before nodding. "I'll find you tomorrow at noon. Be ready to work, Rhia. If I do this, there will be no mercy for you. I will run you into the ground, force you to pick yourself up, and run you back into the ground. Again and again and again. Do you understand me?"

Rhia nodded once.

"Good. Remember, tomorrow at noon." Adrian vanished down the hallway.

Rhia watched him go, tail tip twitching just above his head, and wondered if she was going to survive the training. She took a breath, releasing some of the tension that had come to a head and let it out in a heavy sigh. Well, she still had quite a bit of time.

Might as well seize the moment and what courage she had left. She was tired of pussyfooting around Cristoph. She spun on her heel and headed towards his room, her first stop in her search for him.

She met him at his door, a small smile on her face.

Cristoph rolled his shoulders, attempting to drop the stress from them, and gave her a hug. "How are you doing, Rhiannon?"

She shrugged, "All right. Got a few things to talk to you about. Do you have a few hours?"

He blinked once, wondering what exactly would require such a long block of time, but agreed. "I do. Just got off Basement duty, so I have the rest of the day free. What is it you wish to talk about?"

She shrugged again, pulling him into his room by the hand. The door clicked shut and she hugged him tight 'round the middle, face buried in his chest. "I love you Cristoph. I love you so very, very much."

"What's wrong?" She was shaking, and his hand was stroking her hair, trying to calm her.

"I…I realized just how out of our league we are…How afraid I am." She swallowed. "I asked Adrian for training, and…I'm not sure what's going to happen." She locked gazes with him. "And with things so uncertain, I'm tired of waiting. We don't have to go all the way, but I want the option. No more waiting. We might wait too long and then one of us might be gone. That's nearly happened once. Not again."

She held her breath as she waited for his response.

Cristoph's voice was soft. "What are you so afraid of?"

"Being deadweight in battle. Being the cause of someone else getting injured. Getting someone killed." She licked her lips and swallowed hard. "Getting you killed." Her fists clenched.

He nodded once, understanding coming to him with a stab of remembered sorrow, despair and fury, a vision of blood. "I see."

"Training starts tomorrow. I have some time. Cristoph, please…"

There were lips on hers, warm and pressing and she responded, kissing back, pouring in her need. Arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her into Cristoph as the kiss became harder, hotter. Rhia moaned and broke the kiss, and Cristoph took the opportunity to plant kisses down her neck. She shivered.

"Then let's make the most of the time we have." He lifted her by the waist, her legs wrapped around him.

She smiled; her eyes now even with his. "I like the sound of that."

Cristoph hummed deep in his throat, carrying her to the bed. "You should like everything else then, too."

One eyebrow raised, a somewhat silly grin mindlessly grew on her face. "Oh? I will, will I?"

"Mmhmm."

"Good. I wouldn't want it any other way."

* * *

><p>Rhia woke up late the next morning, rubbing her face with one hand and pulling up the sheets with the other. She peered at the other side of the bed, attempting to think through the fog in her mind.<p>

'_Cristoph left the bed without letting me know?' _She ran a hand over the spot where he had slept. It was cool to the touch. She frowned as the fog in her mind dissipated. _'Odd.' _She blinked and yawned, rubbing sleep dust from her eyes.

'_Wait…' _She started to scramble for her cell phone. _'What time is it?'_ He fingers brushed over it and she brought it to her face, the bright LED light making her squint. _'Phew.'_ She flopped back onto the pillows, fingers running through her well-mussed hair. _'It's only ten. I've got enough time.'_ She groaned and picked her head back off the pillow. _'First things first. Now, my underwear and bra should be close by, as they came off last…Oh yes, there they are…'_ She grinned to herself, remembering exactly what had happened when those articles had come off last night.

She grabbed everything and threw it on, dashing to her room for a shower.

She slipped into the shower without being spotted by anyone else in the hall, which she thought was odd as well, but counted her blessings. She stripped and stepped under the warm stream of water, humming in pleasure as it soothed sore areas. She only took the necessary time to scrub and rinse off before jumping out and dressing in a t-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers.

Rhia tugged at her hair as she realized she still had an hour and a half to go.

'_What to do, what to do…? Oh! I should eat something. That'll take some time.'_

Butterflies flew through her stomach as she tried to make the time pass. She poked at her toast, only able to take a few bites of it. It sat on her plate going cold as she stared at the counter, trying her hardest to ignore her nerves and failing miserably.

The stool next to her screeched backwards and she jumped, reflexively cocking a fist back.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, Rhia. Whatever I did, I'm sorry!"

Rhia blinked and shook her head, dropping the fist. "…Ben?"

He gave her a small smile. "Yeah, that's me. Rhia, are you okay? You looked like you were a thousand miles away."

She shrugged and wouldn't quite meet his eyes. "I was, a bit."

"Aaaah. Still, you haven't answered my question." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Another shrug. "Mostly, yeah."

"Mostly?"

"Nervous."

Ben's eyebrows knitted together. "'Bout what?"

"I asked Adrian to train me. And for some irrational reason I am much more afraid than I should be. Maybe it was the way I asked him…"

"Huh? How'd you ask him?"

She gave herself a self-deprecating sigh. "I asked him to bring me up to speed…so I wouldn't be a burden." She gestured loosely at Ben. "For example, you can throw _nukes_ at your opponents. Admittedly they've been nerfed as the time has gone by…" They both winced as the Fourth Wall rumbled, but there was no accompanying yell from Adrian. Another oddity. "…but they're still pretty effective." She adopted a ponderous look on her face. "Michael has the Darkness, Kyle's got his own kick-ass abilities, and Tash has been nothing _but_ badass for a long while now. And don't get me started on what the bad guys we're facing can do. I can't help but feel a little over-whelmed at it all."

"Hey," Ben pulled Rhia into a surprise hug. "I get'cha. You'll be fine. Adrian's hard, but fair." He patted her back and let her go. "You'll do fine. Now," He gave her a small but bright smile. "When did you say you were gonna meet Adrian? 'Cause it's nearly noon now…"

Rhia squeaked and jumped again, panicking slightly and dashing for the door. "Thanks Ben! See you later!" Her hand was the last thing out the door, waving at him as she vanished.

Ben blinked in surprise at her swift departure. "Wow."

* * *

><p>Rhia's footsteps were the only things accompanying her down the hallway, soft taps as each step connected with the flat carpet. She knew Adrian said that he would meet her, but it left her feeling uncertain, not knowing where exactly to go. She hated not having a certain modicum of control. Her kitchen was her control. Her ability to fight was her control. Without it, things became erratic and high-strung tension set in. It wasn't a pretty sight.<p>

She turned the corner and jumped as Adrian slid out of the shadows of the next corridor. His eyes caught hers in a stare, and there was no comfort in the violet gaze. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Are you ready?" Adrian asked. "This is your last chance to back out. If you do, I can set you up with Michael or someone else. They will train you adequately enough to hold your own in the upcoming battles. But I can't guarantee they will train you to what you asked. Do you understand?"

Rhia gave him a single, sharp nod.

"So I will ask you again. Are you ready?"

Rhia swallowed, and it felt like swallowing sand. This was it. She made her decision.

"I am ready."

Adrian nodded once. "Good. Follow me." He vanished into a side corridor darkened with shadows. It must have been where he appeared from in the first place. She followed him, still tense.

Adrian picked up on this. "You're afraid."

"More nervous than afraid, but yes."

"Uh-huh." Disbelieving. "It's good to have some fear, but not enough that it clouds your thoughts and vision."

"I know."

"Mmhmm." A pause. "Your strengths are your throwing knives and your sniper skills. You've started teaching yourself parkour. Good choice, Rhiannon. It complements what you can already do. Your skills, by principle, mean you are going to be a ranged fighter. This means your tactics are going to be much different than many of the Society members, who have attacks that work better at close range. This does not mean you will not be able to keep up with them, but it does mean you will have to think out of the box when fighting an enemy. Not only will you be training with me to work on your speed, agility, strength and overall skills, but we'll work on your marksmanship."

Rhia blinked in surprise at her full name.

"Understand this, Rhia. I am simply giving you what you asked of me. When you're picking yourself off the ground and every muscle in your body is screaming at you to stop, you were the one who asked for this."

"I understand."

Adrian shook his head. "No. Not yet, you don't. But you will." He stopped his hand on a doorknob. "Through here your first training session will begin. You _have_ to pass this session to continue. If you don't, I pass you onto Michael. And, well, if you don't, you might not want to be passed on to Michael." He shrugged. "After you. Take five steps straight in and then stop. If you take more, you might fall off a ledge."

The door creaked open, revealing nothing but pitch blackness. She did as told, straining her eyes to see anything. Adrian stepped in after and clicked the door shut, waiting a moment before flipping a switch on the wall.

The lights came on with the low hum of electricity and Rhia gasped at the sight.

The room was huge, easy dwarfing an Olympic stadium. Filling it, however, was something she did not expect. Rock walls lined the sides, rope ladders hung from the ceiling and from other walls, some dangling from exposed wood posts. Wooden beams jutted up from the ground, creating short but perilous paths to other platforms. Crumbling, rundown buildings were interspaced within the room, walls nearly falling apart. Some large wooden columns had beams jutting out from them and would rotate, making it difficult for a person to jump from one place to another. And there was more, but Rhia simply couldn't see it yet.

"Here," Adrian tossed her a pair of fingerless gloves. "You'll need those until you get the proper calluses on your hands."

Rhia quickly slipped them on and tightened them properly, testing the fit.

"Your starting point is right in front of you. You have ten to thirteen minutes to reach your goal, using any path you wish. You may get there however you want, as long as you do so within the time limit."

Rhia tilted her head, eyes already scanning the field. "Where's my goal?"

Adrian blinked. "You mean you haven't spotted him yet? Hm, another thing to teach you…"

"Him? What do you mean?" Dread started to build in her stomach.

"I'll be nice and point him out to you, just this once. Look up and to your left, at about eleven o'clock."

Rhia did so and stopped breathing. "Cristoph!"

"Ah. You've spotted him."

"Why is he in that tank?" Anger colored Rhia's question.

Adrian's face was stony. "That's why the time limit is ten to thirteen minutes. When you start, I push a button and water starts to fill that tank. It will take ten minutes for the water to fill that tank, and the human body can last a maximum of three without oxygen. Less, depending on how well he's controlling his heart rate at the time and how much he oxygenated his blood."

The glare Rhia was sending Adrian would have killed anyone else at point blank range. "You are actually threatening to drown him?"

"Exactly. I know your biggest fear is drowning. Seeing him drown," Adrian jerked his chin toward Cristoph, "is probably worse. This is the biggest incentive I could ever give you to move. This is the training from Hell, Rhiannon. I'm not going to be nice about it. You want nice, go talk to Michael."

Rhia _seethed._ "He drowns, and I kill you. Tash or no Tash."

"He won't."

She simply growled at him.

"Oh, by the way." Rhia narrowed her eyes at him. "You have to get past me to stop the water from filling the tank." He smiled, almost mockingly. "See you on the other side."

Rhia nearly snarled.

"Begin in 3…"

Rhia turned back to the starting point.

"2…1…GO!"

Three things happened simultaneously. Adrian slammed his hand down on the button. Water began to fill Cristoph's tank. Rhia shot off like a rocket and leapt to the first platform, three feet away and two feet up. Adrenaline was giving her a very useful boost.

There was a gritty smack as Rhia grabbed a pole in mid-jump, letting her momentum carry her half-way around before she let go, shooting off in a different direction. She nearly staggered as her feet hit the ground again, but she managed to keep upright and kept running. She poured all of her frustration into her legs, pumping them faster and faster, and threw herself at the rope ladder at the other end of the hallway. Her jump carried her halfway up the ladder and she scaled the rest of it in an instant, ignoring the creaking protests of the old rope.

Using the last rung of the ladder as a brace, Rhia launched herself through the hole in the ceiling and onto the roof of the building. The vista that came into view as she did so reminded her to slow down. The building she'd just finished climbing had been one of the taller ones, but she was still less than halfway through the course.

Taking a deep breath, Rhia launched herself across the roof, aiming for a section of broken brick wall at one end. Rapidly calculating the height of the wall, the distance to the roof on the other side, and her own speed, Rhia planted a foot onto the crumbling stone, pulled herself up and leapt across the gap. There was a sickening crunching sound as her feet hit the ground and for a nanosecond she thought she'd broken something. Then the roof around her fell in, dumping her onto the grimy tile floor on the flight below.

Rhia groaned as she rolled onto her side, she could almost feel the bruises already forming. A shooting pain was crawling its way up her right leg. The thought of just lying on this floor for the next year or so had just crossed her mind when Adrian's face materialized before her.

"What's wrong? Getting tired already?" the specter smirked. "Looks like they were right. Cooking is the only thing you're good for. Just stay in the kitchen where you belong."

Rhia snarled, diving forward at the apparition, only to have it dissolve into thin air. Still growling, she charged down a hallway and threw herself through a hole where a window once stood. Grabbing onto a rope hanging from the roof, she quickly pushed off from the wall and found her feet on the ground.

Without hesitation, she turned and ran. Time was ticking. She felt it with each heartbeat and each breath was one less that Cristoph had.

Her footsteps pounded the concrete, eyes searching for another way up. Darting to the left, she ran into a thin alley, the walls barely five feet apart. Bounding off the walls, she leapt up onto another roof.

The Librarian watched as Rhia nearly ran up the remaining ledge of the obstacle course, flipping herself over with a single hand and coming out of the accompanying roll in a dead run. His face remained blank as she whipped a knife at him in mid-run. He casually knocked it out of the air with the back of his hand and then landed a solid kick in her gut before her raised frying pan could come down. "You can't get by me with a pathetic effort like this, Rhia! I bet you'll look good in black at the funeral."

"Shut UP!" Rhia straightened and lunged again, hands out stretched to strangle. But a sliver of light flashed in front of her gaze and then she went flying to the side. She hit the ground and rolled, letting out a cry of agony as her brain finally realized he had slashed her across the torso and landed a kick to the side of her head.

"Next time you're that reckless and hot-headed, my blow will shake your brain and knock you out." Adrian said calmly, turning to face her.

Behind him, the water in Cristoph's tank rose higher.

Rhia got back to her feet, producing both _wakizashi _from their sheaths at her back and darting forwards, though more cautiously this time. As she closed the distance, she spared a glance at Cristoph's tank and growled at the water level.

The moment's distraction almost cost her head, Adrian's sword slamming into her crossed-blade block and throwing her back again. The chef managed to keep her feet this time around and dashed forwards.

From the moment their blades connected again, it was clear that Adrian wasn't even trying against her. He still had his sword in only one hand, simply rotating his wrist and flipping it in his grip to easily block her strikes. "You're not used to using two swords and your moves are so slow, I could block them in my sleep. You'd be dead a thousand times by now and pretty soon, Cristoph will be."

Rhia abandoned any pretense at fighting and simply threw her weight into her next strike as she tried to shove Adrian back and drive her weapons into his shoulders. His blade intercepted hers and he slid his foot back to keep his balance. The chef seized on the advantage for all she was worth, shoving and digging her heels forwards.

He shook his head and disengaged the weapons, knocking her back a step and then catching her foot before it reached his crotch and throwing her away again. "Weak…"

Behind him, the water in Cristoph's tank rose higher.

She snarled and darted at Adrian again, slashing at him from the side. He only sighed and shook his head. "You know that doesn't work. BOOT TO THE HEAD!" Rhia went tumbling head over heels to land, sprawled, a good couple yards away from Adrian with a bright pink boot print on her face.

Rhia pulled herself up onto her knees, panting, teeth gritted together to block out the pain from the numerous wounds she'd accumulated. "Dammit. Dammit all. I can't…" She punched the floor in frustration, both of her arms shaking from exertion.

"Hurry, Rhia. You're running out of time." Adrian's voice made her jerk her head up to look at the tank Cristoph was caught in. The water was well on its way to the top, the surface already brushing Cristoph's chin. Dread and helplessness flooded through her as she clenched the hilts of her swords as tight as she could. She looked down at them, her thoughts racing for one more idea that might work.

"How…?" Going head-on at Adrian just meant getting thrown back. But he didn't attack. He just stood there, blocking her from going any further. Rhia growled again as she looked at the distance between Adrian and that tank. It was so close!

Rhia stood as a light bulb lit over her head, her eyes measuring the distance between Adrian and the tank. Her eyes steeled as she crouched.

The Librarian's eyebrows quirked, sensing the change. "So you decided to come at me seriously now, hm? Good. I'm waiting."

She took a breath and charged him, one sword held in front of her, no hesitation in her eyes.

"What the-? I guess you gave up. Fine." He blocked her strike with ease and as he kicked at her head, a whistling sound flew by his head and behind him. He ignored it.

As Rhia fell back, she smirked at Adrian. "Screw you, Adrian…" With that, she collapsed in a heap at his feet in a dead faint.

He frowned and sighed at her crumpled body, shaking his head. "You tried," he remarked, before a loud cracking sound made him spin around and stare at the water tank.

Cracks were spider webbing their way across the surface from a point almost dead center of the tank and one of Rhia's wakizashi was lying on the floor in front of it, like Excalibur pulled from the stone. He looked back at his feet and Rhia was only holding one sword. She'd thrown her sword like a knife in the hopes of breaking the tank.

Adrian put his hands on his hips and smiled. "Well, that's a way to do it." Another cracking sound crashed through the area and the glass shattered, letting water shallowly flood the floor. "Good job."

* * *

><p>Rhia twitched and groaned, feeling every wound she'd just gotten as consciousness came back to her. She let herself simply lie there for a moment, breathing, slowly pulling herself back together. There were two quiet voices coming from above her and…why was the ground wet?<p>

Wait. Wet meant water. Water meant a tank and—

"Cristoph!" Her eyes snapped open and she tried to sit straight up, only to gasp and lean back down when her body protested the movement. "Ow."

A small chuckle came from her left. "Yeah, you're going to be hurting for a while." Adrian placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did a good job. You figured that there was no way to get past me at the moment and did a little out-of-the-box thinking. That's what I wanted in the end."

A mix of a groan and a growl came out of Rhia. "And threatening Cristoph was how you went about it?" She snorted. "That's _so_ nice of you."

Adrian shook his head. "He was never in any danger. Had the water gone over his head I would've cast a spell so he would've been fine. Nothing to worry about and it got you to move."

Rhia growled again. "Jerk."

"So I've been told sometimes."

"Go away."

Adrian snorted. "Okay. I'll talk to you later when you're rested. Cristoph, she's all yours."

The white-haired Librarian left her field of vision only to be replaced by a wet and slightly bedraggled ninja in black. Rhia smiled at him and winced again as she tried to sit up.

"Easy, Rhiannon, easy…" He brought an arm around her shoulders and slowly pulled her up.

She moaned and flopped against his chest, regardless of the fact that he was soaked. She was exhausted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Good. Mmmnph." Her eyes slid closed. "'Least I know why you were gone when I woke up today. Did he ask you or just straight on kidnap you?"

"He asked."

"Oh." She snorted. "_Wonderful._" The sarcasm made itself apparent even through her exhaustion.

"I'm sorry Rhiannon, but I couldn't say anything."

"I know." She sighed. "It's all right."

"Thank you, milady." He nuzzled the top of her head.

"Mmnph. If you don't pick me up and kiss me, _then_ we're gonna have some problems."

Cristoph smiled. "Yes, milady."

Rhia sighed happily as Cristoph picked her up bridal style and kissed her warmly.

* * *

><p>End chapter one!<p>

I have a question for the Martialshippers in the ACMSES. Did they or didn't they? I leave it rather ambiguitous, don't I? *cackles* I'll tell ya next chapter, but I still want your opinions.

Please, review! Your opinions mean a lot!

Till next chapter,

Isis the Sphinx


	2. Chapter 2

Welcome to chapter two of Insert Extreme Parkour Running Here!

Okay, first off, I am _so sorry _it took me four months to get this second chapter done. College+life+my brain messing with me in ways I DID NOT need pretty much shot any writing ability I had. For some good news, I got most of this done in two late night-into-the-morning writing sessions. MANY thanks to **_Mei-1105_ **for prompting me whenever I ran into a brick wall. We work well together, Tash!

For those of you waiting for it, all the exciting stuff happens now. *cackles evilly*

Disclaimer: I do not own Assassin's Creed two, or anything else in here besides Rhia. Passion is a co-shared character. I am absolutely sure I am making no money off of this. I wouldn't want to piss off Ubisoft like that anyway, they're way too awesome for making something like Assassin's Creed for me to play in.

May the battle begin.

* * *

><p>Rhia shivered uncomfortably as she stood at the cutting board, paring knife slicing through the fruit in neat, precise rows. She still wasn't used to the weight of the twin pistols of Incandescent Silverreign hanging from her hips. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling the guns move against her hips.<p>

The sound of the knife sliding the cut fruit into a nearby bowl scraped by her ears, the fruit itself making a dull 'sploshing' sound as it landed. She sighed, and tried to put a hand on her hips, only for it to land on a pistol.

There was a dull knock on the door before it opened and revealed Adrian.

"Hey Rhia."

The chef only briefly glanced up at him, already shuffling around and putting plates away. "Another training session?"

He nodded. "Also a bit of a field trip. Gonna hand you over to a specialist."

Rhia rinsed her hands off. "Specialist?"

"Your skill set…" He shrugged. "I could keep teaching you, but it's not something I trained for years over. Assassination isn't quite my cup of tea."

"All right." Rhia leaned against a wall, drying her hands off. "Where am I headed?"

Adrian gave her a dark grin. "Assassin's Creed two. Specifically, Venice. Make sure you—"

"!" Rhia squealed, all other thoughts forgotten as she bounced in excitement. "Thankyou thankyou thankyou!"

"What? But I didn't—Oof!" All the air rushed out of Adrian's lungs as Rhia tackleglomped him, still grinning madly. "Rhia…air…"

"Thank you!" She squealed again before dashing out of the kitchen as fast as her feet would take her, her squeals of glee trailing behind her.

Adrian sighed and followed her, a bemused look on his face. "If this is how she acts just at the news of going to Assassin's Creed, I wonder how she's going to act when she meets the specialist."

* * *

><p>The plot hole opened up to a terracotta rooftop and a blue sky clearer than any Rhia had seen in a long time. There was the faint sound of water below her and she leaned over, spying a canal.<p>

"Ooooh…This is awesome!" Rhia grinned, the smile taking up most of her face.

"Heh." Adrian shook his head ruefully, the plot hole closing behind him. "At least you'll be going into this with a better mood than last time."

There was a small huff, and Rhia looked back at Adrian over her shoulder. "It was your fault you grabbed me in the middle of my period. You should know better by now than to do that."

"Yes, well…" The kitty ears on his head went flat. "Emergencies won't wait for your period to be over."

A grin. "Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that. I still smacked you upside the head with my frying pan."

"Hmph." Adrian turned and started leaping from roof to roof. "C'mon. We've got someone to meet."

Rhia followed him with ease, the sniper rifle and shotgun of Incandescent Silverreign strapped to her back in a cross shape, ready for easy retrieval and use. The accompanying pistols still hung from her hips, the attached belt strapped tight across her waist.

Running across terracotta was a different experience, Rhia having to almost bounce on the balls of her feet as she ran, the curved tiles not allowing much surface for a whole foot to be placed down.

The two dashed across Venice, leaping from roof to roof, gaining and ignoring cheers from the few small groups of thieves camped out there. They leapt into the air, leaving the rooftops to pole-hop across the waterways, startling fishermen and bystanders alike. They merged into the crowd, slowing their pace to a determined walk, slipping between people like they belonged there. For the most part they were ignored, except for one cloaked figure in a dark corner, who caught sight of white hair and cat ears. The informant's eyes went wide and he dashed off, intent on the meeting place of his employer. Templars were one thing, but cat ears on a man? What devilry was this!

Adrian and Rhia slipped out of the flow of people into a side alley, Adrian flash-stepping up to the roof, Rhia quickly scrambling after, making use of a convenient barrel and window to pull herself up. Adrian nodded once and they continued on.

"Where're we headed?" Rhia asked between breaths. Weeks of his training had paid off. Extended runs no longer sapped her energy completely, or even winded her. She was fast, agile, and had the stamina to match it. She could shoot a target at a mile away, with or without Phoenixia's sniper rifle. Also, Incandescent Silverreign no longer blasted her across the room whenever she fired.

* * *

><p><em>Rhia dropped down from an overhang, landing in a crouch. She stood slowly, panting hard and blinking the sweat out of her eyes. She'd finished her run for the day, the new obstacle course pulling yet more from her. She knew she had to give everything she had and more, the unspoken threat of using those close to her over her head. Oh, she knew that Adrian's threats weren't as deadly as he made them out to be, proven by the result of her first run, but the real motivation was in her head. One day, it really <em>_could__ be Cristoph's life on the line. Or Ben. Or Emily. Or Inara, or Ingrid, or John, or Lily. Or any other Society agent. All it took was seeing a facsimile of the threat to make her __move__. _

_Adrian leaned back on the far wall, his eyes having followed her through the whole course. He nodded and smiled at her, a quiet compliment for finishing today's run better than any others in the past. He pushed off the wall and stepped towards her, a bottle of water in one hand and a cloth wrapped bundle tucked under the other arm._

"_Five miles in thirty-five minutes, give or take. Nicely done." He handed her the water bottle._

_Rhia grinned and twisted hard, the cap coming off without complaint. "That's...what? Seven minutes a mile? Heh." She tilted her head back and started to gulp, half the water gone before the poured the rest over her head, sighing in relief. "You couldn't at least air condition this place?"_

_Adrian snorted. "I do. And this is nothing. Just wait until I've got you running through sand with weights on your ankles. __Then__ you'll know the definition of 'hot.'"_

_She rolled her eyes. "Fine." A sigh. "What's next?"_

_The wrapped bundle came out from under his arm to rest in both hands. Grief stole into violet eyes only for a moment before vanishing behind a door. "Target practice with a new gun."_

_Rhia's eyes narrowed in confusion. "A new gun?"_

_He nodded. "Yes. We're fighting some very strong people. A magically endowed gun will take down those a normal one won't. And, well," He smiled. "This gun has one hell of a learning curve."_

_He unwrapped the cloth from the gun carefully to reveal gleaming silver metal and master craftsmanship._

"_In-Incandescent Silverreign?" Rhia's jaw dropped. "This is Phoenixia's gun! I couldn't…"_

"_Stop." Adrian caught Rhia's eyes. "I'm giving it to you because I know you'll use it well. And I know Phoenixia wouldn't want it to gather dust on a shelf somewhere. Better it is put to use."_

_Rhia's hands rested gently on the gun, reverently, as if one wrong move would make the gun vanish into thin air. _

"_I…Thank you."_

_Adrian simply shrugged and motioned to follow him. "Don't thank me yet. You still have to learn how to use that gun."_

_Five minutes later there was an ear-ringing bang, a squeak, and then a dull thud._

"_Do you want me to go get Valerie?"_

"…_.Please?" A moment went by. "Ow….."_

* * *

><p>The buildings were getting progressively taller as they ran across the city. San Marco's Basilica loomed somewhere in the middle distance as they started to climb more walls instead of leaping from building to building. Their fingers dug into the stonework, searching for ledges, testing them to see if they would hold their weight, and then quickly pulling themselves up, searching for the next hold. Together, the two scaled a tall building, scrambling onto a flat roof with a trapdoor in the center. By this time, Rhia was breathing heavily and sweating, trying to get her wind back. Even Adrian himself was pushed a bit by the workout, wiping sweat from his forehead and shaking out his limbs. A water bottle was passed between the two, each taking sips as to not get sick.<p>

"All right. We wait here." Adrian said, capping the bottle and pushing it into a pocket of his trench coat, where it promptly disappeared.

Rhia blinked and shook her head, not surprised that Adrian's pockets were bigger on the inside. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "This is our meeting point."

"Then why couldn't the plot hole open _here_ instead of _halfway across town?_" Rhia fumed, fists clenched in annoyance.

The Librarian grinned. "Had to let him know we were here, first."

"He didn't already know?" Rhia deadpanned.

"Nope. And it was good practice for you, _aaannnd_ it gave you some familiarity with the territory." He folded his arms. "What have I been teaching you?"

She sighed and slumped, her voice going monotone. "Get to know the territory before engaging a target. This makes it ten times easier to take said target out without him ever knowing you were there."

"Exactly."

She huffed, folded her arms and turned away, conceding the point but not liking it. "So…now we just wait?"

"Yeah. He should be here soon. He found out we were here not long after we arrived."

"Who is it?"

Adrian grinned again, his voice gaining a childish whine to it. "Not telling!"

"You're really gonna make me wait for it, aren't you?"

"Yeeeeaaaaap."

"Thanks. Really."

"No problem!"

"…I was being sarcastic."

"I know."

Rhia face-palmed.

A few more minutes passed, in which Rhia took in the view to mentally map the area. A couple blocks away from the basilica, the grid system practically disappeared, vanishing into a twisted mess of side streets, tiny alleys, and multiple dead ends. The buildings themselves were practical jungle gyms, providing a myriad of ways to climb up, sideways and down. She looked directly down and grinned.

"Hey, Adrian…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that haystack would cushion my fall if I were to jump?"

He walked over and shrugged, looking at the same haystack. "Maybe. Physics here have always been a touch odd. I wouldn't take it for granted that they will."

"Mmmkay." She shrugged and then froze, hearing the soft tap of boots on stone. Both spun around in surprise, Rhia drawing a pistol and aiming before realizing just who it was.

"Mio caro! If I knew this was going to be my reception, I would've come later!" He held up his hands, a joking smile on his face.

Adrian grinned and laughed back. "Sorry, Ezio. You know what sneaking up on people like us does."

Rhia's jaw dropped, the gun falling to her side. A small squeak worked its way out her throat, her eyes going almost comically wide. "E-Ezio Auditore?"

Said person pulled his hood down and cocked his head to the side, a vaguely innocent look on his face. "Yes?"

By this time, Rhia's jaw had shut, but her eyes were still wide and her hands were shaking ever so slightly. She crouched, and at this point Adrian knew the signs, having had a version of it happen to him multiple times.

"Uh-oh…"

"EEeeeeee!" One moment, Rhia was standing on one side of the roof next to Adrian, the next, latched onto Ezio in the patented fan-girl death-grip used only when an object of fan-squealing was within grabbing distance. Ezio, to his credit, only grunted quietly as his ribs were forcibly decompressed by Rhia's surprisingly tight hug.

"Tesoro…I need air…"

"Oh! Right!" Rhia let go but didn't go far, a small, high-pitched squeal consistently coming out of her throat as she went over every inch of Ezio she could, giggling over outfit and weapons alike.

Adrian sweat dropped. "Rhia! Calm down!"

Rhia calmed down, but not by much. She _did_ back off, but only enough that she could stand there and grin widely, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Ezio blinked in confusion as he eyed the suddenly hyper girl. "I have…admirers?"

"Yes, yes you do." Adrian's eyes narrowed. "Rhia, that isn't calming down." Fingers wrapped around the girl's back collar and dragged her back until she stood even with the Librarian again. He sighed in exasperation as she stopped bouncing, but didn't lose the grin on her face. "This is a mild case."

"Mild case?"

"Yeah." Adrian nodded. "Some would have, after glomping you, impossibly run off with you and had their way with you. What they want to do varies."

The young assassin looked thoughtful. "Have their way with me, hm? This sounds intriguing."

"Pink ribbon."

"What?"

"Pink ribbon, glitter, and slash pairings. It's not pretty."

"Ah." Ezio shrugged. "No matter." The Italian waved his hand dismissively. "What did you need me for? Finally someone you can't take out, Adrian?"

Adrian gave him a glare that was easily ignored. "No. I need you to do me a favor." He gestured towards Rhia, who had finally calmed down enough to at least not look like she was on some form of crack. "I need you to give her a few lessons in assassination and your style of combat. I know some, but I thought it a good idea to hand her to someone who did it for a living."

Rhia gave him a small wave.

Ezio gave Rhia a short stare, and then gave Adrian an incredulous look. "You must be jesting."

Adrian shook his head.

"You want me to train a girl, whose first action on seeing an armed assassin is to give him an overenthusiastic hug?" He gave a small scoff. "No. I am sorry amico, I cannot do it."

Rhia gave him a small glare. "You know, when I hugged you, I didn't account for your arrogance." She folded her arms. "You should know better than to judge a person by first appearances."

The assassin cocked one eyebrow. "Oh?"

"At least give me a chance." She was serious now, her feet in a solid stance a shoulder width apart and her eyes locked onto Ezio's, not flinching. "You never know. I might surprise you."

"Cocky."

Rhia gave him a wry smile. "Confident."

"Well then. You have yourself a new teacher." Ezio nodded at Adrian. "I'll do it."

"Right." He waved his hand and a door back to the Library appeared. "I'll pick you up in a few hours, Rhia. Have fun." Adrian vanished into the portal, his trench coat billowing behind him.

Both blinked after him in the silence he left, before Rhia broke it. "So. How'd you meet Adrian?"

Ezio shrugged. "He did me a favor."

"That's a running story around him."

"Is it? Interesting."

The girl nodded. "Makes you wonder exactly how many people he knows. Anyway. What first?"

"Hm." The assassin put his hood back up and rubbed his chin. "Running."

"Okay. Where to?"

There came a wicked grin from under the hood. "The edge of the Doge's property and back." Ezio grinned and pointed in the direction of the palazzo. "And don't be seen. I'll be following behind."

Rhia pouted. "Awwww…but that takes out all the fun of losing them! They weren't all that smart on the way here."

Ezio laughed in agreement. "Be that as it may, being able to travel unseen is a crucial component. I want to see just how good at it you are."

"Alright." She nodded. "Any other rules?"

He shook his head. "You may start when you are ready!"

"Awesome." Rhia grinned.

* * *

><p>The plot hole swirled out of existence as Passion stepped away from the wall, an unusual frown on his face as he surveyed the alley. It wasn't dark, but it was plenty damp, and one homeless man had made temporary camp there, curled up against the wall, eyes wide as he stared at Passion.<p>

"What're you lookin' at, old man?"

The homeless man flinched and promptly found the ground and trash around him very interesting. Passion scoffed and turned on his heel, joining the flow of traffic on the street proper.

The gamer Sovereign stormed through the crowds, snarling at anything that got in his way, which were mainly the minstrels. They wisely kept their distance after the first three incidents.

Passion was furious at the Society, and when he was told that one of its agents had appeared in a fandom where it was all too easy to take a bit of revenge, he had jumped at the chance. 'Course, he'd do it in a game, but he'd have it all the same.

The Stu growled softly and folded his arms, thinking on which direction to go next. He stared down the crossroads for a moment before looking up, grinning darkly. If he knew the Society, and he did, they'd be running on the rooftops if they wanted to get anywhere. It was smart, but it also gave them less places to hide, than if they were in the crowd. No matter. It meant he could start his game sooner.

He'd liked the Society, he really had. They were gamers themselves for the most part, and played by the rules. Everybody has fun that way, when you play by the rules. But they messed up big time when they took out Wisdom. That—that just wasn't playing by the rules anymore! Why couldn't they have just stuck to them?

Passion growled and punched a wall, leaving a sizeable dent in it and not a scratch on his fist. They weren't playing by the rules anymore. It didn't matter how much he liked them. They needed to be punished for breaking the rules of the game. Runoa had laid out the rules of the game when she had created them all. The Society was to fight the Sovereigns, and eventually give Runoa what she wanted. This didn't include killing the Sovereigns.

Of course, Death had been an idiot and they had all wanted him gone. Even though Harmony denied it.

Wisdom—Wisdom was different. He could be a stick in the mud most of the time, but there were times where Passion really appreciated him. And he played a mean chess.

The Society wouldn't get away with this.

* * *

><p>"…So are you going to hug me <em>every<em> time you see me? I appreciate the sentiment, but…"

A squeak emanated from where Rhia had buried her face in Ezio's middle. "Mmmmmnyeeeeeh…"

Ezio sighed. "I'll take that as a yes." He gently pushed the girl away, rubbing his ribs where her tight hugs had probably given him some bruising.

She stepped away, her cheeks a light pink as she scratched the back of her head. "Yeah…um…yeah."

Ezio smiled softly in response to her embarrassment, before shaking his head and getting to the matter at hand. "So. Your run."

Rhia immediately stilled, playfulness forgotten, concentrating on the steel behind Ezio's eyes as he paced back and forth in front of her.

"You did…well. You certainly surprised me." He folded his arms, careful of his ribs. She was _strong._ He hadn't expected that. "Your speed is amazing. This is a good thing. Most guards will generally stop chasing a target if they're too fast."

Rhia grinned, pleased.

"However," Ezio held up a finger.

The smile froze.

"Your stealth could be much, much better. Your footsteps are not as nearly as soft as they could be, and you land hard from jumps and drops. The resounding thud you make can easily alert nearby guards and potential targets. That, mio caro," He gave her a rakish grin. "Is what we are going to work on."

"Ummm…okay…" A small bit of anxiety peaked in Rhia's eyes. "You're not going to throw me off buildings, are you? I get enough of that in my daily life."

Ezio laughed. "I don't think you're ready for the leap of faith. But don't worry," He waved a hand in the air dismissively. "We'll get there."

Rhia shuddered, trying not to think about falling thirty stories or more into a pile of _hay, _and tried to change the subject. "Sooo…how will you be teaching me to land softly?" Maybe it was Piece of Eden enhanced hay…?

Rhia blinked, and Ezio was in front of her. She hadn't seen him move. He leaned forward, lips an inch away from her ear, and whispered, "Remember. Land toes first, then heels, and bend your knees."

There were hands on her shoulders, and she felt him give her a sharp shove, and then there was nothing under her but air. Rhia shrieked.

Ezio leaned over the edge of the building to watch her land three stories below. "Helps if you don't scream!" He offered cheerfully.

A death glare met Ezio's eyes after a moment. "_Warn _me next time!"

He gave her a confused look. "But where would the fun be in that?"

Ezio had her leap on and off buildings many more times, watching her and correcting her stance and posture each time.

"You are an eagle! You swoop down, attack your prey, and soar away before anyone else can do anything!"

Rhia landed, wobbled, and rolled into a somersault to come up steadier than before. "Do I _look_ like an eagle to you?" She waved her arms at him aggressively. "Do _you_ see feathers and wings on these arms? I don't!"

He ignored her. "Eagle, Rhiannon, eagle!"

"I'm a cat," Rhia growled. "I eat birds for breakfast."

"You'd have to be a pretty big cat, mio gattina."

Rhia rolled her eyes and leapt for another building.

She landed on the next building, just in time to hear a roar and feel massive, intense _heat_ on her back, followed by what felt like the hand of god pushing her over onto her front and smashing her face on the roof of the building. She lay there, dazed for a few moments, before pulling herself to all fours and twisting around to look behind her. Dimly, she realized Ezio was doing the same thing a little ways away. She wondered vaguely how he had gotten there.

"Awwwwww…." She heard a distinctly disappointed whine, and followed it to its source. "I missed!"

Ezio's jaw dropped. "…That's an entrance."

Rhia struggled to her feet. "Passion?"

"Friend of yours?" Ezio shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the ringing in his ears.

"He tried to kill me. His friends tried to kill my friends…" Rhia thought about it for a moment, head tilting to the side. "We crashed a spaceship into one of their hideouts…"

"Spaceship?…never mind. Interesting relationship."

Rhia snorted. "That's putting it lightly."

"Oh Rhiiiiiiaaaaa…" Passion sing-songed, flash-stepping from building to building, getting closer. "It's time for another gaaaameee…"

Rhia visibly swallowed.

"Careful…" Ezio cautioned. "This guy is a few good knives short of an assassination, if you know what I mean."

Rhia's response was a glare that clearly meant, '_Yes, I knew that already, thank you!_' She turned her attention to the Sovereign. "What do you want, Passion? There's no other sue here to play with."

Passion smiled, seemingly at ease, and started tossing a small, golden sphere between his hands. In Rhia's peripheral vision, Ezio stiffened and reached for a weapon.

"I was bored, Rhia, and had a lot of extra energy to burn off." The golden sphere got tossed over his head for a moment. "And I heard you were training and I'd thought I'd help! Games are great for training!"

Ezio snarled softly. "He's got the Apple. How'd he get it?"

Rhia shushed him. "Easy. He's not done yet."

Passion stared at the Apple for a moment before darkening in anger. He raised his head to look at Rhia and she took a step back in fear at the look that usually signaled Passion going berserk and throwing someone into a wall.

"The Society's broken the rules, Rhia! You know what happens when someone breaks the rules!" He grinned again, and it held no cheer. "So! The game!" The Apple glowed brightly in his hand and immediately five Passions appeared next to the original. "I get to copy myself with this handy-dandy little tool…" A few more copies appeared. "And then I get to scatter into the city. Your part is to find me!"

Both Ezio and Rhia looked confused.

All the copies rolled their eyes. "Don't tell me you're that thick. You have to find the real me! You know, the only one holding this nice shiny toy." He waved it around, and then tilted his head in thought. "And I'll be coming after you as well, Rhia. Don't think I won't. So you better be ready to kill me when you see me." The copies all leapt off the roof and practically vanished into the city. "Because," Passion grinned darkly. "I'm gonna be ready to kill you."

With that, he vanished off the roof of the building, and the game had begun.

* * *

><p>Incandescent Silverreign's two pistols barked off each shot as they fired at each Passion-clone, making them vanish as they 'died.' Passion himself was yelling at her and she was chasing his voice, but it was always a clone she shot, and not him.<p>

"Why are you doing this, Passion? What did I do?" Rhia yelled back, desperate for some clarity to this mess. She clambered up the side of a building, flipped over the edge, and shot another clone.

Passion's voice exploded in her ear. "DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW!"

She flinched and spun, shooting a Passion-clone that was stalking her from five feet away, his face a rictus of rage. It was so very uncharacteristic of him that she was shaken to her core. All of that rage, directed at her. "I don't! Truly, I don't!" Rhia shouted into the air, unsure where to direct her answers.

Training that was pounded so hard into her it was second nature told her to not stop moving. Staying still meant sitting duck at times like this. Sitting duck usually meant dead. Dead was not good. Rhia got a quick look around and eyed a tower in the near distance that she thought she might be able to get to and climb. She turned on her heel and made for it. A sniper's nest would be useful.

Passion replied almost immediately. "LIAR!" Rhia landed onto another roof, and a clone launched out of a small covered garden, tackling her. She struggled with him for a moment before there was a bang between them. The clone went limp and she kicked his limp body off a moment before it disappeared. "YOU AND THE SOCIETY ARE NOTHING BUT LIARS, CHEATS, AND _MURDERERS!_"

Rhia snarled in reply and kept running for the tower. "If we're such liars and cheats, Passion, then tell everyone the truth! What are we lying about? Where have we cheated, and for heaven's sake _who did we kill?" _The tower was getting closer in her sight. The problem was climbing it without being seen.

There was a low level growl on both sides and she stopped, seeing a Passion-clone come out of an alley on each side of her. Their mouths contorted into a hard sneer, and in tandem opened their mouths. "He was an _old man._ You could've just thrown a prohibitor on him!"

She gave a blink of confusion even as she shot down both Passion-clones._ "What?_" Her voice was shrill as she tried to figure out just who the old man was.

"WHAT KIND OF TWISTED PEOPLE KILL AN OLD MAN?" The voice this time came from above and Rhia looked up, aiming at the same time. There was a bang, and yet another Passion-clone fell at her feet before vanishing into nothing.

"Oh, fer cryin' out loud," Rhia rolled her eyes, truly fed up with Passion yelling and not telling her anything. "WHO DIED, PASSION? Damnit, tell me!"

Yet another clone flash-stepped in front of Rhia, this one practically shaking with anger. "YOU KILLED WISDOM!"

Rhia wasn't sure what stunned her more; Passion's statement or the fist she took to the face. It sent her flying into, luckily, a florist's stand, where she lay there and simply groaned, trying to make the stars in her eyes going away.

When she was finally able to make out what she was seeing in front of her, it was to Passion's bright red face. He grabbed her by the collar and shook her, almost too furious for words. "You _killed him,_ and didn't even give us the courtesy of leaving us the body. Bastards, all of you."

Rhia was too busy trying to process the idea of a dead Wisdom to react to the insult. That and the fact that he had her by the shirt. "Wha-?" There was another confused blink. "We never killed Wisdom. We haven't even run into him since we crashed that ship into your place!" Rhia snorted. "Had we taken him out of the fight, it would've been big news."

Passion growled again and Rhia realized that might've been the wrong thing to say as he threw her further down the alley. She rolled with the impact, getting to her knees and shooting down this clone. He fell over and vanished, and she wiped away the blood trickling from her temple and jaw.

"Time for the big gun." The sniper rifle and shotgun joined the two pistols in front of her, and she worked on assembling them into their combined form.

Thirty seconds later she was moving again, this time over rooftops, the tower becoming closer and closer in her sight. Her head and jaw ached, and she was starting to get pretty well winded from all the running she had been doing.

Damn. Passion wanted her and everyone else in the Society dead and she didn't quite understand why he thought someone there had killed Wisdom.

"YOU'RE DEAD, RHIA! YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE SOCIETY!" Passion's voice echoed from multiple points in the city, and she shivered. He meant it. All of the voices sounded close.

It was with quite a lot of relief when Rhia made it to the spire she had been aiming for. She holstered the complete Incandescent Silverreign on her back and quickly began to climb. If there was one thing she could do all day, it was this. The spire itself was easy to climb, with many handholds and notches in the stone to place her feet. Looking up, Rhia saw a small wooden platform built into the top and jutting out into the air.

She let herself have a small grin at the thought of using an Eagle Point. "You wanted me to be an eagle, Ezio."

As for Ezio himself, he'd vanished with nary a word as soon as the game started, supposedly to hunt down Passion. Ezio didn't stand a chance against him. It was good thing Passion probably didn't care.

Rhia finally clambered up to the Eagle Point and crouched, scouting out the area for Passion-clones, Passion himself, and possible Ezio. She spotted Ezio, slumped over next to a rooftop garden. She winced, and hoped he wasn't dead. "Good thing I didn't try to hide in those things. Seems Passion had a habit of hiding in them and ambushing."

"Game over, Rhia. You're dead. I win." Passion's voice, soft for once in this whole fight, came from right behind her.

She hadn't even heard him climb up! Rhia spun around and tried to pull her gun on him, but realized it was too big in the contained space to aim it properly. "Shit." She swallowed and took a step back, and realized three things. She only had another six inches of platform, that there was a good twenty stories between her and the ground, and there was no pile of hay at the bottom. "You don't have to do this, Passion. We didn't kill Wisdom."

He gave her a wry smile and shook his head. His anger had disappeared in the certainty that she was dead, and her body just hadn't realized it yet. "Even if you didn't kill Wisdom yourself, someone in the Society did. That's cheating. Sovereigns aren't supposed to die."

Rhia opened her mouth to ask a question. "Then…what about Death?"

Passion wrinkled his nose, a crack of his old personality showing through. "None of us liked him, even Runoa. We let you have a freebee."

"Ooooh." Rhia nodded in agreement. "I get it."

"Yeah." Passion clamped a hand down on her shoulder with one hand, and waved at her, almost mockingly, with the other. "Requiescat en pace." He pushed her hard, knocking her over.

A moment of weightlessness.

Wind.

The world turned completely on its head.

She was falling.

The wind _howled _in her ears as she fell, and Rhia wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. _This_ was how she was going to die? A messy splatter on fifteenth century cobblestones? Damn it all!

She did scream, a yell of rage, as time slowed down and details came into focus. She saw Ezio stir and look up, his eyes going wide as he realized she was in free fall. She saw his lips move, but didn't hear what he said, his voice drowned out by the howling wind. She clenched her eyes shut, not wanting to see his anguish. She had enough, thank you very much. She didn't want to think of Cristoph, and what he would do when he found out, what he would fall into. She'd trained herself so something like this wouldn't happen. So she wouldn't get killed. She'd worked so damn hard! She'd worked hard enough Adrian had thought she could handle Incandescent Silverreign. It'd been such an honor, and she had told herself she wouldn't let him down. She'd worked her _ass_ off trying to get a handle on all four component guns and its complete form. She _still_ had the bruises from her first shots, where it knocked her back so hard she'd slammed into the wall with some force. Damn it all! She'd worked so hard!

Wait.

Rhia's eyes shot open.

She scrambled in mid-air to pull Silverreign from the holster on her back. The gun had enough force to knock her into a wall ten feet away. She had nothing to push against to keep this gun from doing so. The gun could slow her fall!

She tucked the butt of the gun in close to her body and twisted over in mid-air to fire at the ground.

The cannon explosion that resounded covered her scream of pain from the gun's kickback as it pushed her back up into the air a few feet, only for her to start falling again. The street below exploded into rubble as the shot slammed into it.

"Fuck! This is gonna hurt." Rhia bit her lip and fired again. Better to hurt than be dead. This time, she felt her shoulder wrench out of place. She screamed again and moved the butt of the gun to her center mass. It was this or lose the use of her arms. She fired again, and the kickback jerked the gun straight into her diaphragm. Her air was punched violently out of her, and she felt her lower ribs complain loudly. She gasped, and her eyes went wide at just how close she was to the ground. "One more…" She fired, and the rubble exploded hard enough to meet Rhia in the air.

She moved the gun out of the way just in time to curl into a ball.

_IMPACT._

The world went black for a moment.

When Rhia woke, it was to a lot of pain. Enough that she didn't want to identify exactly where it was yet. She twitched, and felt the grip of Silverreign still in her left hand. Blinking dust out of her eyes, she looked up and saw Passion staring down at her from the Eagle Point. Rhia brought the gun up, supported the butt of the gun on the ground, and fired at him.

Passion vanished through a plot hole before the shot could take out the Eagle Point.

Incandescent Silverreign clattered carelessly to the ground, and the world fell again into blackness.

She felt a hand on her cheek when she woke up the second time, and she opened her eyes to Ezio leaning over her, attempting to check her for injuries.

"Easy, _gattina,_ easy…" He smiled at her, and went to inspect her shoulder. "You fell from quite a height. I'm surprised you're not a mess on the cobblestones."

She gave him a dry laugh. "Didn't want to make a mess." She hissed as her diaphragm and ribs complained at the extra moment.

"Right. Well, I can see I won't need to test you on your Leap of Faith. You did wonderfully, _Tesoro._"

Rhia hummed an affirmative and lifted her head. "Help me sit up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I don't think I broke anything. I just hurt."

Ezio sighed. "As you wish." He slipped a hand under her back and eased her into a sitting position as she hissed out another breath of air.

"…I don't think I want to do that again." Rhia said after a moment of silence.

Ezio blinked at her, and then laughed. "I don't think you will, Rhia. I don't think you will."

Another plot hole splashed into existence a few feet from the pair, Cristoph, Valerie, and Adrian walking through it. Cristoph and Valerie knelt on either side of Rhia, Cristoph glaring at Ezio and pushing him out of the way. Valerie gave a small smile and promptly got to work.

Cristoph put his forehead to Rhia's, voice soft and still very frightened. "I am so sorry, Lady Rhia…"

Rhia gave him a soft smile and sighed. "Oh, Cristoph, it's not your fault."

Ezio's eyes widened in surprise. "_Lady _Rhia?"

Rhia couldn't help it. She giggled. She stopped long enough to explain. "It's an affectionate nickname."

Adrian repeated Cristoph's apology. "I'm sorry you had to go through that alone, Rhia. I didn't think to turn on the monitors until you were halfway up the tower, and even then we had a hard time getting a signal. Passion was blocking us out. We tried getting a plot hole in, but that was blocked too." He gave her an approving smile. "Good job."

Rhia leaned against Cristoph and sighed in relief as Valerie healed the worst of the injuries.

Valerie patted Rhia's shoulder and stood up. "You got away lightly. You're good enough to walk back to the Library." The healer gave her a bright smile. "I'm glad I didn't have to heal worse."

Rhia snorted. "Me too." She stood slowly, Cristoph's hands around her waist helping her, and gained her balance on two legs. She craned her head over her shoulder and waved. "Goodbye, Ezio. Thank you!"

He smiled at her. "Goodbye, _gattina." _

The four Society agents stepped into the plot hole and vanished, the portal itself following not long after.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Rhia found herself walking down the hallways of the Library, Valerie having freed her from the medical ward, and under orders to only keep to light activities until the last of her bruises healed. Her dislocated shoulder had been put back into place, but it was still sore, and an icepack had been wrapped around it. Her ribs as well had been wrapped in bandages to keep them from moving too much to give them a chance to heal without difficulty.<p>

Cristoph, however, was still treating her like a piece of glass.

"Cristoph, I'm fine! See? Still standing, walking, talking." Rhia, as much as she loved him was getting a little tired of the coddling.

He said nothing, simply tugged her closer with an arm around her waist. Rhia squeaked, but didn't complain about the closeness. "Fine."

A blush bloomed across her face as Rhia realized they weren't alone.

"Awww, you're both so cute!" Grinning like a loon, Tash appeared from a doorway, a plate of brownies in her hand, and a dozing, chocolate covered Combee tucked under the other arm.

"Nyeh! Tash!"

Tash giggled. "I just wish I had a camera. You're both red as cherries. It's so easy to get you two to blush!"

Both huffed, but neither let go of the other, which was quite possibly just as cute.

Cristoph blinked as something occurred to him. "Lady Rhia, why was Auditore calling you a kitten?"

Rhia froze in surprise and went even redder. "Aaaaah…"

Tash decided now was a good time to drag Rhia away. "Hey, Rhia, I just remembered. I think you left something in the oven."

"I did?"

Tash nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. _You did._ You should go get it before it burns."

"Oh!" Comprehension dawned on Rhia's face. "Right! Um." She gave Cristoph a quick peck on the cheek. "See you later." The chef dashed off for her kitchen before he could ask any more questions.

Tash grinned at him and flash stepped away, leaving Cristoph to wonder exactly what had just happened.

Tash followed Rhia into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.

Rhia flopped into a chair, still red. "_Thank you_ for getting me out of that."

Tash waved it away and sat down next to her. "It wasn't a problem. I know what it's like to want to glomp a hot character, even with a boyfriend."

"It didn't help Ezio was _flirting_ with me." Rhia groaned. "I get why; the man is practically walking, hot sex on two legs for that era…or any era, probably." She huffed.

Her reaction made Tash smile. "Yeah…he is pretty good looking. But he doesn't beat your man, does he?"

"Doesn't even have a snowball's chance in hell."

"Good." The tone in Tash's voice changed like a switch going off, immediately grabbing Rhia's attention. "Dear, I know you don't have a sister, and that things between you and Cristoph have gotten more intimate."

Rhia blinked and turned bright red again. "How the hell do you know that?"

Tash smirked. "The overly-smug looks on both yours and Cristoph's face after your training session."

"Oh." A pause. "Where were you going with this?"

"Right. Rhia, I know this might sound like I'm prying, but I think you need someone to ask and make sure. Are you being safe?"

A slow smile grew on Rhia's face, the blush fading away. She nodded, a little sheepishly. "Oh yeah. Don't worry about that. I've got plenty of condoms and Cristoph won't make a move unless I okay it." She grinned, looking more than a bit silly as she remembered exactly what Cristoph would do.

Tash immediately perked up, breaking Rhia's trip down recent memory lane. "Oh, good. I just wanted to make sure." She grinned, and made to stand. "I can see you'll be busy soon, so I'll…"

"Tash, wait."

"…Yes?"

Rhia locked eyes with Tash. "Why does Passion think someone in the Society killed Wisdom? Did you? Why hasn't everyone been told?"

"NO!" Tash's response was a small explosion of noise. "Rhia, I can honestly tell you that Wisdom is not dead.

"Then where is he? He's certainly not with the other Sovereigns. Passion was pissed as all hell that someone here had killed him. He's gonna be after all of us, now. He almost had me dead, Tash. He thinks that killing a Sovereign is cheating, and that's what he thinks we've done." Rhia ran a hand through her hair.

"Wisdom is…" Tash slumped back into her chair. "We weren't going to tell anyone."

Rhia gave her an annoyed look, lips pursed. "Well you kind of have to. Passion's pissed, and I bet some of the other Sovereigns are following his lead. It's gone and made things personal with them. And what do you mean 'we'?"

"Me and Michael."

Rhia's eyes narrowed. "You've got to tell the Society. And then maybe the other sues. Otherwise, things are going to get worse when they don't need to. We don't need this animosity." She put a hand on Tash's shoulder. "The whole story."

Tash's voice was soft. "Yeah." She rubbed the bridge of her nose for a moment before standing and pulling Rhia up with her. "We need somewhere private, and I'll tell you."

"Why?"

Tash mouthed, "(at)."

"Ah. Okay. Um." Rhia scratched her head in thought. "The Harry Potter room?"

Tash grinned. "Yeah, sure."

Said room was not far from the second kitchen, and the two made quick time. They dumped all of their electronics in a corner to keep them from getting fried, and stepped in. Immediately, a small background hum vanished from their hearing, and Tash visibly relaxed.

"I'm sorry, but (at) is a loudmouth. If she knew, the sues would, and that can't happen. For Wisdom's sake."

"What?" Rhia felt a shock of confusion go through her.

Tash sighed. "Michael and I were sparring in the Twilight fandom. Purity and Wisdom showed up. I took Purity, he took Wisdom. Combee had followed, and had been chewing on what equipment we brought with us." She shook her head at Combee's antics. "She chewed a little too much on a BLAM."

"Oh, hell."

"Thaaaat's about right. The insanity of it all…broke Wisdom. For some reason, his Stu powers failed him, his age caught up to him, and he had a heart attack from all the insanity frying his brain."

Rhia's jaw dropped. "I repeat my earlier statement. Oh, hell."

Tash nodded in agreement. "We took him to a hospital nearby. We…left him there. It wouldn't have been right to kill him. Not like that. He barely survived."

"So, now what?"

The blonde shrugged. "We let him heal. We leave him in peace."

"And you don't want the whole world knowing why?"

"Runoa would force him to fight again, every sue and their brother would be after him for his power. It's not right to let that happen." She shuddered. "And who knows what the Doctor would do with his power. I mean, we've all seen his blog." There was a small rumble as the fourth wall shook.

"ASTER!"

"Wasn't me!"

"BEN!"

"I didn't do it!"

Both girls giggled.

Rhia sighed. "Alright. I understand your reasoning. But you've got to tell some of the other senior agents. Passion, and probably a couple other Sovereigns, are pissed. They should at least know why."

Tash nodded in agreement. "Okay. I'll do it soon."

"Good." Rhia wrapped her arms around Tash and squeezed her into a tight hug. Tash squeaked as her ribs constricted.

"Rhia, I think you could compete with Alice for hugs!"

"That's what I'm aiming for!"

* * *

><p><em>Play, play the game tonight<em>  
><em>Can you tell me if it's wrong or right?<em>  
><em>Is it worth the time? Is it worth the price?<em>  
><em>Do you see yourself in a white spot light?<em>  
><em>Then play the game tonight.<em>

* * *

><p>Song: "Play the Game Tonight" by Kansas.<p>

Italian translations:  
>Mio caro: My dearoh dear  
>Tesoro: dear heart<br>Gattina: kitten, female (instead of gattino, which would be kitten, male)

I am really glad this chapter is done. And I think my writing has gotten better.

Tell me what you think!

Read, Review, multiply by 42?


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